Rishi and I went to Maker Faire in Austin last weekend and were blown away by all the cool stuff we saw. It’s a two-day paradise of do-it-yourself projects including art, crafts, engineering, robotics, science, music, and more. Anyone who likes to make stuff and look at stuff other people have made would enjoy this. We talked with a lot of crafters about running their own businesses and selling online. The majority of them already have products on Etsy.com and many have their own website as well. Many were interested in learning about other ways to expand their online sales, such as creating their own brand on their own store site with Flying Cart. Here are some photos and a video of our day.

Being the founder and developer of Flying Cart is the best job ever. No wait… being a semi-professional triathlete while being the founder and developer of Flying Cart is the best job ever.

For the past year I have been training intensely for Ironman Wisconsin which is coming up on September 7, 2008. For those of you who don’t know about Ironman, it is a race that consists of swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles in that order in one day. Slightly nuts, yes. I am having an awesome season and am ready to completely dominate on race day. If things go well, I will be qualifying for Ironman Hawaii World Championship.

My training routinely consists of 6 hour bike rides, 3 hour runs, and 90 minute swims all of which add up to about 20 hours each week. I work on Flying Cart between workouts. Those long workouts give me a lot of time to think and I find that that’s when many of my best ideas for Flying Cart features come into my head. Sometimes I will plan out the complete technical details of a feature in my head during a workout and then all I have to do when I come home is type it up. For example… fan clubs… conceived while riding in the hills west of Austin Texas. New About Us page…. planned while running 22 miles in the Arboretum in Madison Wisconsin.

Have you noticed how many new features we have been adding lately? You can thank the peak of my Ironman training for that If any of you are in Madison Wisconsin on September 7, come check out the Ironman for an inspiring spectator experience.

After over 6 months of working in separate cities and communicating through email and web conferencing, the three of us finally had the chance to get together in person in Chicago this past Saturday to celebrate Rishi’s sister’s wedding. The wedding was a beautiful event with wonderful people, amazing vegetarian Indian food, the fanciest dessert table I have ever seen, and even a giant ice sculpture of Ganesh. One highlight for me was Rishi’s hilarious MC presentation of speeches and dances by family and friends. Congratulations to the happy couple Reena and Mayank!

Rishi, Margo, Brian

Rishi at the Baarat

August 1 was also the official one year anniversary of the launch of Flying Cart. We’ve come a long way in just one year. Thanks to all of our customers and fans for your continued support.

“Hi Margo, Once again I want to thank you and your team for going above and beyond. I know I have been a pain, but I really appreciate your support and effort. Everyone should know about the great support service Flyingcart has. You ROCK!” – Ruben from Tag It